Clothes-line fastener



(No Model.)

C. L. PEINBBRG.

' CLOTHES LINE PASTBNBR.

Patented June 18, 1895.

/NVENTH BY www VL@ A TTOHNE YS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

OHARLS L. FEINBERG, OF BROOKLYN, NEX/V YORK.

CLOTH ES-LINE FASTEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 541,348, dated vEl' une 18, 1895.

Application ledMarch 23, 1895. Serial No. 542,911. (No model.)

construction, whereby the ends of a pulley` line or other form of clothes line may be expeditiously and conveniently united, and whereby the slack of the line may be quickly taken up at any time, the device serving to eftectually hold the line in whatever position it may have been adjusted.

The invention consists in `the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the clothesline fastener. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device, one end of the rope being in section; and Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section through the device, the locking member being disconnected from the biting surface of the body of the device.

In carrying out the invention the device may be said to comprise a body A and a locking member B. The body is virtually looped, and is made preferably from metal, although other material may be employed, and. comprises two parallel side members 10, placed a suitable distance apart, and a biting inember l1, the biting member being a continuation of the side members 10, and is enlarged and usually of circular form, being provided with an opening 2, shown best in Fig. 3, extending through from top to bottom, and the said opening is wider than the space between the side members, it being in communication with said space, whereby shoulders 18 are formed at each side of the biting member where the opening 12 and space between the side members are brought in connection.

The end wall of the opening 12 in the biting member of the body, is given a downward and what may be termed a rearward inclination, as shown at 14 in Figs. 2 and 3, the inclination of the wall 12 being in direction of the extremities of the side members 10; and preferably the upper endof the said inclined wall 14 of the loop body is rendered more or less cylindrical, as shown at 15 in Fig. 3.

The locking memberB is made in skeleton form in the interest of lightness, and it is pivoted preferably between its center and rear or outer end in the space between the corresponding portions of the side members of the body, the pivot pin 16 passing through said side body members. The rear extremity of the locking member is preferably curved downward, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and terminates in an eye 17, while the forward end of the said locking member is provided with a solid section 18, the outer face 19 whereof is inclined correspondingly to the inclination of the wall 14 in the biting member of the body, since the said solid section of the locking member is to enter the aforesaid opening 12; but the solid section of the locking mem-` ber does not completely iill the opening 12, as sufiicient space is provided between the inclined surfaces of the two members to receive an end of a rope'20.

. The rear vertical side surfaces of the solid portion 18 of the locking member or section of the device are provided with shoulders 2l, adapted to engage with the shoulders 13 of the body member A, or practically so, whereby the locking member or section is guided when carried down to working position in the body member or section,and is prevented from having lateral movement.

At the upper end of the solid portion of the locking section a knob or handle 22 is formed,

whereby the said section may be conveniently y manipulated and forced down to place. One end of the rope 2O is secured in the eye 17 of the locking section, as shown in Figs. 1 and,

2, and the other end of the rope is passed up through the opening 12 in the body section of the device; and after this end of the rope has been properly adjusted, the locking section practically throughout its length is forced IOO downward within the body section of the device, and the rope passed through the opening 12 in the body section will be clamped between the two inclined surfaces 14 and 19 of the device. Consequently the more tension that mav be applied to the rope, whose ends are connected, said tension being applied in a lateral direction, will but serve to hold the biting surfaces of the device, namely, the surfaces 14 and 19, the more firmly in clamping engagement with the rope. The handle or knob 22 enables a person to disengage the locking member quickly from the rope for purposes of adjustment, or for disconnecting,r the ends of the line when necessary.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The herein described clothes line fastener, consisting of the body A provided with the biting member 11 having the spaced and parallel members 10 projecting therefrom, the

biting member 11 being provided with the opening 12 of-greater diameter than the space between the parallel members 10, forming the shoulders 13, and having its forward end wall 14 inclined downwardly and toward the shoul- 25 ders 13, and the locking. member B pivoted between the members 10 of the body and having its rear end curved downward and provided with the eye 17, and its forward end provided with the head 18, having its front 3o face inclined downwardly to correspond with the end wall 14 of the opening 12 of the body and provided with the shoulders 21 on its rear side surfaces adapted to register with the shoulders 13 of the body, and with the 35 

